EMHW Katana Monokote covering thread

[zivbit]

Hi all ,

for the past few month I have been building my Exclusive Modellbau Katana 2.48m.
I git it 3 years ago as a kit and it was lying there ever since, until I finaly got the nerves to build it.
The kit comes with excelent high grade balsa and wood - AND LOT OF IT.

Although it is an interesting project - Its the last time I intend to built this kind of kit.
Too much work, man...
ARF's today are so high quality that it is just not worth the time.

BUT
I am here, and I intend to finish it, and I LOVE MONOKOTE so,
I thought of sharing the whole process with you guys.

So here it is - the Monokote covering thread is hereby begining...

I will post pics I take along the way and do some explaning.
feel free to ask anything.

Cheers,

Zivo

[zivbit]

As you can see, first steps would be proper finish and preparation of the surfaces.
I like to assmeble everything as in ready-for-flight, take it all of, and cover.
Your new best friends - covering tools!
Good iron for monokote, a small tip iron for corners and dificult angels, surgical scisors (i work in a hospital - EASY..) and many-many knifes and blades.

The most important issue before you start - make a scheme plan!

[PaulSwany]

Looks sweet. Do you seal down your monokote to the wood, or just the edges?

[zivbit]

	Quote: Originally Posted by PaulSwany
	Looks sweet. Do you seal down your monokote to the wood, or just the edges?

Hi Paul,

everything is sealed. this prevents wrinkles after. lot of work but worth it.

more pics.
BTW, colors used:
Metalic gold
metalic silver
metalic blue
white

[JeeUm]

Looking real good, love the color combo. Never would have thought of it.

I'm gonna move this one into the "Covering,Paint,detail" Forum.

Keep up the good work, can't wait to see this one done. That's a sharp airplane.

[zivbit]

	Quote: Originally Posted by JeeUm
	Looking real good, love the color combo. Never would have thought of it. I'm gonna move this one into the "Covering,Paint,detail" Forum. Keep up the good work, can't wait to see this one done. That's a sharp airplane.

No problem Jeeum,

Gonna do some more work tonight and post many more pictures.

Cheers,
Zivo

[adrian]

Zivo some more pics!! as i have seen it much further!!

Guys this man can cover - like you dont believe!! and paint!! i seriously take tips from him - need too - lol

[Boogie]

Really nice job. Give us more tips, as covering is the worst thing I do in my models (well maybe flying is no better).

[zivbit]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Boogie
	Really nice job. Give us more tips, as covering is the worst thing I do in my models (well maybe flying is no better).

OK let continue:
TIP: for transparent monokote - use very low heat
For metalic - use high heat for short periods as the metalic colors has the thickest layer of color on the film itself.

Here are some pictures that show how to deal with round corners:
you have to use the small tip iron, and cut the trim into small strips using hobby knoife or scisors, and then iron them one by one with the tip to their place, and then cut the remains with a knife.

[zivbit]

Moving on:
The fuselage.
open spaces fuselage is more dificult to cover cause you cant play to much with dificult scheme if you are not using layers of monokote.
In general the monokote is not so good in layers one on top of the other and tend to trap bubbles, therefore I usualy just overlap 0.5 cm between each layer and apply each direct on the wood.

The katana has dificult curves on the fuselage and I use mid-heat on the iron, and work slowly from center to the each side.

I used silver on the bottom, blue on the deck including the rudder, and the gold will come in between.

[zivbit]

some more pics
tight curves on the canopy deck, using strip-cutting and the small tip iron to tack it.
the gold stripe carefully put into place and iron it using medium heat.

[zivbit]

the fuselage:
I ironed the three color layers as shown.
I decided to trim everything with white monokote sticker - it makes the metalic colors to become bold, and looks very good together.

few more pics.